A teenage member of an Exeter car-jacking gang has been spared jail after the judge heard he did not want to lead a criminal lifestyle.

Carlo Kovacs was just 17 when he, his older brother Vito, and two other men met 18-year-old victim Jamie Burke-Pryor in the city centre.

The victim had become separated from his own group of friends and the gang persuaded him to give them a lift to the edge of town to pick up their Ford Focus.

But once there the men attacked him, stole the keys to his Seat Ibiza and drove it to Mincinglake Road. The victim was attacked for a second time and left injured and bloodied on the pavement. The gang also stole his iPhone, wallet and rucksack

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Vito Kovacs, 27, and Carlo Kovacs both denied robbery but were found guilty by a jury after a trial at Exeter Crown Court in 2017.

Vito Kovacs was jailed for three and a half years. His is younger brother, formerly of Falloway Close, Torquay, has now been sentenced at the same court.

Judge Geoffrey Mercer QC jailed him for 15 months but suspended the sentence for 18 months.

He said: “You are 19 and you have your life ahead of you and my impression is that you genuinely don’t want to be back before the courts again. I’m prepared to accept that.

“This is a serious offence of robbery of which you were convicted. It is now some 15 months ago and you were convicted by jury of your part in it. It had a considerable effect on your victim. The minimum appropriate sentence, and a longer sentence is justified, is 15 months in a Young Offenders Institution. I will suspend that for 18 months.

“You played an active part in what happened but you have no other relevant convictions.”